Leaf Springs for my 72 4x4 C20 Suburban

[DieselFJ]

Where can I buy new leaf springs for my Suburban, and what brand has the best ride. I am looking for a 2" that rides nice.

Thanks in advanced

[DieselFJ]

Anyone?

I have considered Tuff Country, Rough Country, Skyjacker, Superlift, and possibly Deaver(if they make springs for my application). Anyway, looking for anyone with ride experience on any of these brands of springs, and opinions on what would be the best spring for my application.

Thanks
Scott

[dougo]

I've heard good things about the softride from Skyjacker. I have not used them though...

[DieselFJ]

Thanks for the reply, I had the Skyjacker soft rides on one of my FJ40's and the seemed to break down very fast, they were a nice ride, but I am affraid the longevity may be a problem.

I just got of the phone with a company back east and they seemed to be pretty sold on the Tuff Country, they said the ride is great, and are a good quality product. The only problem is if a person was going to tow a lot they are not built for that type of application, and in the end will affect the longevity. A fix for that would be a set of air bags in the rear.

I also was told the Rough Country and the Superlift were very rough rides, but would hold up to the stress of towing etc... better than the skyjacker and the Tuff Country. Since I hate rough riding springs I am definitly staying away from these two options.

I also called Deaver Spring Inc.. They seem to be the Cadilac of leaf springs. They have a progressive design (like the Old Man Emu springs) where the spring pack is made up of a bundle of lighter weight springs. This allows for a soft ride when not loaded, and once a load is placed on the vehicle it is distributed down through the pack which still provides a good ride and allows the spring to hold up under that type of condition. The down side to Deaver is the cost, but I do think it is a good quality product.

Anyway, just hoping for some real world Suburban experience to back my research.

Thanks
Scott

[jbclassix]

You may want to look into having custom springs made. I had them made for my 96 with 8 inches of lift for the same price as my Skyjackers with 4 inches... I liked the custom ones a whole lot better. The company that made them was out of NorCal (cant remember who they were) With the Burbs, seems like no one has a spring that fits right. With the custom springs you can get the rear at the height you want it to sit

Here are the springs that were supposed to fit my 70, and DON'T!!


Here are the custom springs I had made for the Chevy

[DieselFJ]

I noticed all of the off the shelf springs seem to have a broad range of applications, which makes me believe they could potentially have spring rate issues. I believe the rear would be affected most by the use of a generic spring, that is why I would add the air bags to compensate for the extra weight of the Suburban. That being said, I am doing a Cummins diesel swap, so the fronts will have extra weight as well, so now I would be looking at 4 leafs and 4 bags to compensate for the extra weight.

That brings me back to the Deaver springs. Custom made, application specific, great ride, but man, it's hard to justify the price, but again I don't want to do this again.

Also, Tuff Country is just down the street, so maybe I will give them a call and see what they have to say.

Thanks for the pictures and comments, I will put one mark for custom.

Scott

[CrewCab59]

I run Skyjacker because of the soft ride. If your doing a CTD than stay away from the soft and go to the HD or have springs made.

On my CC tow rig I use Superlift HD. The rear springs you have 52" and 56" and the pics above look like 56" that needs to have 52"

Thanks

[RUSHNBOBO]

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Here are the springs that were supposed to fit my 70, and DON'T!!

I actually have had a couple of 69-72 4x4's ....from your pic I think they sent you HD 56" springs which are for some 73-87's....but I believe that all 69-72 4x4 trucks.... C/10-20's had 52" inch x 2.5" width, with a centered through bolt.

measure from eye to eye with the frame jacked up slightly and I bet there 56"

[Mt Man Chad]

Older post, but I'm on the hunt for a little lift for my 68 1/2 ton 4x4 to fit 33 BFG's.
Shop in Portland say they can make anything - http://www.spring-man.com/

[DieselFJ]

Sorry, never updated the post. We ended up purchasing a custom spring set made by Alcan Spring out of Grand Junction Co. The springs were exactly to spec and ride incredible. We ran the rears a little on the soft side then used air bags to copensate for any extra weight including towing. I like the ride of the springs so much that I purchased a set for my 72 Burban from the same company. I haven't put them on the Suburban yet, but I will update my build thread once I have installed them. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks
Scott

[Mt Man Chad]

How much did the leafs cost for the pair?
67-68's rear springs are 3" longer center to center than 69-72.

[DieselFJ]

The price was about the same for the 68 as it was the 72. The total to my door for 4 springs was just over $1100. This included a hardware kit which included bushing and bolts. I have run a lot of different springs and can't believe how good the ride quality of the Alcan's is.

[Mt Man Chad]

Thanks for the info!!!!!!